Colts may have dumped wrong assistant coaches

On one Colts coaching change, it's safe to assume virtually everybody is in agreement:

Special teams coach Russ Purnell had to go.

In his defense, the Colts' payroll is very top-heavy with highly paid stars, leaving the bottom of the roster populated by cheaper, less accomplished players who are used on special teams. Purnell might not have been the problem, but heaven knows, he wasn't the answer.

On the dumping of defensive coordinator Ron Meeks, though, there ought to be some hard questions asked:

If you think about the eight playoff losses during the Peyton Manning era, how many of them could squarely be dropped on the shoulders of the defense? (And don't tell me the San Diego loss. They make 2 stinking yards on third down, and it's ballgame.) For most of Meeks' tenure, his defenses were in the top 11 in virtually every defensive category, which isn't too bad for a team that's built around Manning and its offense.

When I think about the Colts' many postseason meltdowns, I think about shoddy offensive line play and offensive ineptitude. And that, grudgingly, comes back to two of the most beloved and respected football men in the business, offensive line coach Howard Mudd and offensive coordinator Tom Moore.

My question is, how come they're the ones who are being asked to stay on during the first part of the Jim Caldwell era, and Meeks is looking for a job?

Playoff game after playoff game, the Colts offensive line has been reduced to a shambles by opposing defenses. By the Jets. By New England a couple of times. By San Diego twice. By Pittsburgh. Every year, they're one of the best offensive lines in football, especially in pass blocking, and every postseason, they come apart at the seams. We're always screaming at Meeks and Dungy for every third-down conversion the defense allows, but Mudd gets a free pass.

The same is true of Moore, another man who would be in the Hall of Fame if the Hall was smart enough to include assistant coaches. In the eight playoff losses during the Manning era, the Colts have averaged a measly 13.6 points per game. All of those losses came with Moore at the helm. That's an atrocious number given the cash the Colts have invested in their quarterback and their offense.

I understand the importance of continuity.

I also understand the importance of change.

And, after a week to let these moves soak in, I wonder if the Colts didn't make the wrong kinds of changes.

In this city, we always want to blame the defense. It's part of the enduring love affair we have with Peyton Manning, who simply can't do anything wrong even when, well, he does a lot wrong. A blogger from the site Cold, Hard Football Facts named Kerry Byrne made a valid statistical case this week that supported the notion that Kurt Warner is a better quarterback than Manning. I would say this: Manning is a far superior regular-season quarterback given his body of work and his durability. He's a no-brainer first-ballot Hall of Famer. But in the postseason, there's no competition; Warner is dramatically better in every statistical category, notably wins and losses.

Sounds crazy, but in a big game, I'd rather have Warner behind center than Manning. Take the emotion out of it, look at the statistics and the decision is made for you.

The postseason problems around here have centered on the offense and not the defense. Could the defense be better? Absolutely. It would help Manning and his guys immensely if they could get more possessions every game and not be forced to be so ridiculously efficient with just eight or nine possessions every game.

That's where Larry Coyer comes in -- we think. The Colts haven't made his hiring official yet, but all signs point toward the hiring of the former Denver Broncos defensive coordinator.

To start, perish the idea that he's going to come in here and dramatically alter the Colts' basic defensive philosophies. This is going to remain a 4-3 team that will play a lot of two-deep zone. Those are the kinds of players they've been drafting the past seven years. With Manning now in his 30s, there's always an urgency to win a Super Bowl, and that's not going to happen if the Colts waste two or three years reconfiguring themselves into a completely different kind of defensive team.

Anyway, they don't have the money under the cap that would be necessary to make those kinds of dramatic personnel changes.

What Coyer -- or anybody else -- would do is bring a slightly different philosophy to bear. Talking to some old Denver hands, they recalled Coyer as an innovative defensive coach who wasn't afraid to blitz, to bring people from unexpected places, whose defenses were routinely strong against the run.

At the very least, Caldwell is showing everybody he's going to be his own man, taking about 10 minutes to move out two of his most important assistants.

On second thought, he might not want to stop there.

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Colts may have dumped wrong assistant coaches

On one Colts coaching change, it's safe to assume virtually everybody is in agreement: Special teams coach Russ Purnell had to go.